Psionic Lock
by xAgentx
Summary: Gabriel's time is running out and now he's obsessed even more with getting Shalimar back. He must find a cure and bring Shalimar back before its too late. Ashlocke uncovers a secret weapon who'd put Shalimar and the rest of Mutant X in danger BS and JE
1. chp 1 a new plan

Disclaimer- I do not own Mutant X although I wish I did. I do however own any characters I introduce to the story so those are mine! If you plan on using anything of mine for anything please alert me first at shalimar_fox_feral@yahoo.com

Summary- Gabriel is getting desperate for Shalimar especially now that he's dying. He must form a new plan in order to get her back and perhaps save himself. Ashlocke uncovers a secret weapon who'd put Shalimar and the rest of Mutant X in great danger. The perfect weapon for the perfect crime if only Adam knew. Jesse/Emma and Brennan/Shalimar more B/S will be seen later. I promise. Please be nice for my first fic though criticism is welcome. I'd like to give a huge thanks to Quest for helping me with this. 

Chapter 1

Gabriel sat alone in his latest hideout concentrating hard. It was getting harder and harder for him to connect with Shalimar and he was getting desperate. With every passing day he felt his strength draining and he wasn't sure how long he had. To get Shalimar back he needed a new plan before it was too late. He was not going to be like Mulwray, a weakling of Mutant X.

"Gabriel?" asked one of his fresh links Sharon, a longhaired red head, average height, and about age 26. She was very worried about her leader. He was obsessing about another woman who he should have nothing to with, someone who wanted nothing to do with him.

"WHAT!?!" Gabriel hissed impatiently and in frustration as he broke the weak link he had just had with Shalimar. "Why must you constantly interrupt my meditation?!? I know you're new but you had no RIGHT to do so." Gabriel said harshly making Sharon nervous.

"Gabriel, I just think obsessing over this… Shalimar person is a waste of time. Especially since she wants nothing to do with you or the Strand, and she's our enemy being with Mutant X."

Gabriel stared at her with cold empty eyes as if looking into her very soul. Sharon felt shivers course through her body, afraid of what he might do next.

"Look." Gabriel muttered in a raspy voice grabbing her shoulder, bringing her practically nose-to-nose with him. "You will NEVER I repeat NEVER oppose me Sharon. I don't care who you think you are but you are under my leadership so as long as you're here you will follow my orders." Gabriel then continued in a calmer more distant voice. "Shalimar and I are meant to be together… and nothing or no one will stand in my way. Shalimar WILL be mine damn it, no matter what it takes I'll find a way to bring her to me." Gabriel strode several feet away from Sharon turning so he faced away from her. "The only question is how…"

****

~Sanctuary~

Grunts could be heard from the dojo as Brennan and Shalimar faced each other in combat. Of course Shalimar was winning as she swung a kick for Brennan's stomach but missed as he grabbed her by the foot. Brennan shot her a mischievous look.

"You wouldn't dare!" Shalimar said a little disbelieving.

But he dared and pulled her right off her feet causing her to fall headfirst into his arms. Catching her they both caught their breath and laughed a bit in between. Then they both stood there for a minute in that position realizing how close they were standing to each other before Shal pulled herself away a bit confused by what she just felt. Brennan stood there gazing into Shalimar as she returned the gaze that he wasn't aware of. Those few seconds seemed to last forever.

Shalimar stood there staring while she heard a voice echoing inside her head. 

'_Shalimar_…' it said. '_Shalimar you know you don't want that, it's all right here in your head._' 

'_What are you talking about? Who are you?_' 

'_Oh you know exactly who I am Shalimar you don't want to leave me when we could have something great!_'

'_Gabriel_' she said with resentment, '_get the hell out of my head!_'

'_I'm sorry Shalimar but just face it, you'll have to admit it sooner or later we were made for each other._'

'_You don't know what you're talking about. We were NEVER made for each other and you can rot in hell for all I care,_' Gabriel's chuckle echoed in her head. While in the dojo only in her mind she could see him standing behind Brennan. Her own stare had become a bit more concentrated.

'_You have no idea… you know Shalimar you care for me too; otherwise you would be able to rid me from your mind. You just can't stop thinking about me._'

'_Oh I'm thinking about you all right. About how much I'd like to tear you limb from limb for all you've done._'

He laughed again. '_You know Shalimar just seeing you angry makes us that much closer to each other. We're perfect for one another._' Shalimar couldn't think of any way to get him to stop and force him out of her head. She just wanted him to leave her alone and stop torturing her with false comments.

Immediately Brennan realized something was wrong with Shalimar. She looked as if she would fall over the way she stood and her stare was concentrated but distant. Realization washed over Brennan that Shal; if she were to fall it would not be to the floor but right off the dojo steps. He rushed over to catch her as Adam and Emma rounded the corner coming into view just in time to see Shalimar collapse and Brennan catch her. They rushed to the dojo wondering what had happened.

"Brennan, what happened?" asked Adam, as he looked her over seeing if anything was wrong. Emma reached them after Adam and she looked into Shalimar, but before she could get a read on anything Shalimar got up and yelled desperately.

"Get him out!! Get him out of my head!!" she said between sobs. "Emma, do something!!" Shalimar felt helpless against him, barraging her with his thoughts and presence.

Quickly Emma made another connection with Shalimar this time sensing Gabriel's presence and whipped around coming face to face with the sociopath. "I sense him all right," she told Adam and Brennan as they turned seeing him as well. Knowing it wouldn't do much good Brennan did it any ways. He got up and went over to the mental image of Gabriel. Though he didn't yell at him because of so much frustration. Through gritted teeth he said,

"You! You need to leave Shalimar alone!! Or I'll…" Ashlocke cut him off.

"Do what? TRY to hurt me and fail?? Brennan, Brennan, Brennan you can't do anything to me."

"Oh we'll do something to you alright," Stated Emma with annoyance and confidence. "But first there's something I need to do." She said surprisingly firm. 

With that she powered up a psionic blast and turned towards her teammate and shot it off hitting her in the head. Instantly the image of Gabriel vanished and Shalimar returned to normal. Brennan and Adam helped her up making sure she was all right.

"Thanks Emma, if it wasn't for you I don't know what I'd do to get him out."

****

~The Strand's Hideout~

Gabriel broke his focus and smiled maliciously. He turned around in his seat facing Sharon who looked a bit frightened and overwhelmed by his plan. For she being a psionic/feral witnessed everything in his twisted mind, and she knew he would tell her his plan to confirm its truth.

"Well…" Gabriel said a bit breathlessly as he started pacing the room. "Now I have a plan," he declared taking time to let its affect sink into his mind. "We've had exactly what we need and yet somehow we've been so oblivious to it, it's sickening."

"Gabriel. Not…" Sharon said pleading for him not to go so low.

"Oh yes." He said cutting her off. "Right now the only one that can keep me from Shalimar's mind will be the one who will help me dig deeper into her mind." He quit pacing and looked back at Sharon. Then he walked up to her, grabbed her shoulders whispering,

"Emma, will make the perfect weapon…"

TBC

Please review. This story will be the first in a series and if you don't like this one a lot just read it to understand certain events that prepare you for more major and interesting things in stories and chapters to come. If you like this story at all even the slightest bit please, please, PLEASE review to let me know if you'd like me to go on it will still be greatly appreciated. If you don't like it review and tell me why you don't like. Once I get reviews I won't sound so desperate.


	2. chp 2 executing

Well here's chapter 2, I hope you like it. Emma/Jesse shippers I **promise** there's a lot more Emma Jesse. It'll just take a little longer. Don't worry Brennan/Shalimar fans there's stuff for you too cause I really like those two pairings. A future story I'm planning will focus on Brennan/Shalimar. This story although with Brennan/Shalimar is more of an Emma/Jesse story. After all I had to start somewhere. A big thanks to Quest and innocent choir girl for helping me and a huge thanks to those who reviewed. I didn't think that many people would review.

"Emma will make the perfect weapon, and somehow Adam missed this." Gabriel smiled sadistically at the very idea. "With Adam's psionic on my side there'll be nothing to keep me from Shalimar. Emma is merely an obstacle and the only reason Shal can get away from me."

"Gabriel! You're mad, please…" Sharon pleaded for him to leave it be. "It's not worth it with the short time you have left." Her face was wet with tears and sweat. Desperate, Sharon searched her mind for something that would stop him. Quickly thinking of an idea, "The psionic is strong anyway Gabriel, it'll be impossible to grip her mind through a link. She's just too powerful."

Immediately Sharon knew she had said the wrong thing. Gabriel's eyes flashed feral as he grabbed her at the back of her head pushing her closer to him causing Sharon to tremble. "You know Sharon you shouldn't start there with me. I'm beginning to think you're a loose thread because it seems that you care more about Mutant X than me, plus here's something you should never ever forget. I am the most powerful mutant, not only do I have Emma's ability but I have everyone else's as well." He still held onto her and stared as if through her. 

Stuttering Sharon found her voice and replied, "I…I'll…I'll remember that."

"Make sure that you do… Now, time to create a strategy for Emma's capture."

****

~Sanctuary~

Crouched in the garden, Shalimar rubbed her head glad that at least for now she was the only one in there. Still a bit unsteady she pondered about what had just happened. First, she had a lot of fun practicing with Brennan. She remembered thinking how handsome and strong he was, then Gabriel invaded her mind. Shalimar wondered. "Why," she whispered aloud, "why won't he leave me alone? What does he want with me?" Her stomach lurched just thinking of the possibilities. Echoing footsteps caused Shalimar to jump; turning around she came face to face with Jesse.

"Hey Shal, you okay?" he asked already being informed on what had happened.

"I've been better" she replied in a shaky voice. "It's just whenever he gets in my head I feel overwhelmed and helpless like I'm totally defenseless."

"You know that's not true Shalimar, like Emma has said you can fight him out of your mind. You know all of us are here if you need us, so don't think you're doing this alone."

Not knowing what else to say she replied "Thanks Jess."

Meanwhile in the lab Adam was going over information on the Strand's activity, Brennan was helping. "Look at this they've been all over the place in the last 6 hours what the hell are they doing?" Brennan asked not expecting any answer. 

"That's what we're trying to figure out Brennan, now in that area I want you to get any security footage you can, so maybe we can see what they're up to," Adam said doing the same for another section. Jesse walked in and logged onto a console.

"So Jesse, how's Shalimar doing?" Brennan questioned as he worked.

"I think she'll be fine, but she's pretty shaken up from the whole ordeal." Jesse answered as he joined Adam and Brennan in their work.

They worked searching for clues of the Strand's next move for what seemed like hours. Just as Shalimar and Emma came into the lab, "hey, I think I found something," Jesse said. As he brought it up onto the screen the others crowded around him.

"Looks like Ashlocke is having a little get together in an abandoned hotel north of Main Street" Emma commented.

"Well what are we waiting for lets go kick his ass." Shalimar said as she walked towards the door.

"A very good idea Shalimar," said Adam, "but you're not going."

"WHAT?!? Why not? I'd like to give him a piece of my mind!" she retaliated angrily.

"Shal, have you forgotten you already have given him a piece of your mind, literally?" Jesse reminded Shalimar. "Adam, I think Emma and Brennan should go." He glanced a bit nervously at Shalimar. "I can say here and alert them of any odd commotion in the area and its surroundings."

"Good idea, Shalimar you need to rest otherwise it'll get easier for Gabriel to catch you off guard in your mind." At Adam's comment Shalimar stomped off to her room to blow off some steam. Everyone flinched as her door slammed. "Okay, Jesse how's the security?"

"Its semi secure but they'll still need to be on the look out. In the building it seems they're holding two new mutant hostages one is a water elemental the other is a… telekinetic psionic."

"What would Ashlocke want with hostages?" Brennan asked.

"Well, maybe he's trying to blackmail someone or force them to divulge information." Emma stated knowingly as she undertook odd glances from her teammates. "HEY! If you can think of something better let's hear it." she said defensively. 

"Well whatever it is we need to get going." Brennan continued knowing that Ashlocke needed to be stopped. Brennan grabbed his coat hurrying to the Double Helix. Emma followed reluctantly but not until after she glanced back at Jesse who nodded as if allowing her to go on. Boarding the Double Helix Brennan quickly took the controls and fired up the engines as Emma brought the Helix online. Then without another word the Helix took flight in the direction according to the coordinates sent from Sanctuary.

****

~Hotel Main~

The Double Helix landed atop a neighboring building to the vacant hotel and Brennan and Emma got out cautiously in order to avoid causing any disturbances. Both leapt off the two-story building and lying low they crept towards the hotel. They hid behind some large trashcans in the alley. Brennan peeked around the corner looking for guards. "There's only two of them, we can easily take them out" he whispered.

Emma nodded in agreement as he leaned out and shot a stream of electricity from one hand knocking out one of the guards. Then not too soon Emma came out from behind the trashcans and hit the other guard with a psionic blast knocking him out as well. With a satisfactory smile Emma said, "well, let's get going." The two of them headed in the once guarded side door and into the complex.

Inside the lights were either out or dim and blinking, while everything was smothered in dust. "Why would Ashlocke choose such a dump as a hideout? Seems to me with his power he could have his pick of places," Brennan stated as they edged along the very creaky hallway.

Suddenly Emma held out her arm in front of Brennan to keep him from walking forward and held one finger to her lips shushing him. "There's definitely someone close by" she said softly "I can sense them… and they're not alone." Then a distant look came over her and out of the blue she whispered hurriedly "run!"

Both of them ran to the right running as quietly as possible but not succeeding. They continued onward blindly going left, right or up. Going on until they both heard frightened muffled voices coming from a few doors down form where they were. Glancing at each other they rushed down the hallway until they were sure they were at the correct room. Hastily Brennan kicked the door down not wasting time to see whether it was locked or not. Dust flew everywhere and inside was a window lit room with two people tied back to back and gagged. Surrounding them were five guards of Gabriel's all different types of mutants. "Well it looks like we've got company," a man said who appeared to be the lead guard.

"That's right but we're not staying for the party." Brennan responded defiantly.

Immediately a fight broke out. Brennan ignited electricity on his palms and created an arch shooting down the commanding guard and another one. Mean while the other three surrounded Emma, but she wasn't worried because she sent out a worst nightmare to each of them causing them to collapse to the floor in fear. The fight went quite well for the both of them. To finish it off Brennan gave a powerful blow to all of them with high voltage electric bolts and Emma knocked them out harshly with a vigorous psionic blast. "Not to worry we're going to get you guys out of here safe and sound" said Emma calming the hostages just as Brennan took out an army knife and sliced through the ropes freeing them.

"Jesse," said Brennan speaking into his comlink, "we've freed the prisoners and getting ready to exit the hotel, anyone coming our way?"

"Not so far, it looks clear for quite a ways, now would be a good time for you two to get out of there" Jesse's voice came back through the comlink.

"He's right Brennan if we don't hurry we may not be able to get out." Then turning to the two new mutants, "Come on we need to get out of here, the Strand will be coming for you soon."

The four new mutants set off quickly towards the closest exit. They turned this way and that coming closer to the alleyway they had entered from. Brennan kept whispering for the other two mutants to hurry up because they seemed to slow down from panic. "Great we're almost there, Emma, you can see right there are only our footprints in the dust there." Brennan spoke relieved they were almost back to the safety of the Double Helix. He contacted Sanctuary then to inform of their soon departure, "hey Jess we're heading back and we've got the new mutants with us."

Coming to the familiar door they had come through Emma pushed through followed by the two mutants and Brennan bringing up the rear. Suddenly the relief on both of their faces vanished as they saw the alley was swarming with Strand members including Gabriel. "This is not good," Emma said breaking the silence.

"Not for you any ways" stated Gabriel with his usual smile spread over his face.

To a greater surprise Emma and Brennan watched as the two mutants they had rescued strolled over to Gabriel and stood by his side, both had matching smug smiles. "A setup," Brennan said through clenched teeth.

"How right you are Brennan, although you weren't always the one prone to figuring things out now, were you," Gabriel added his smile never fading.

"Well too bad for you cause Shalimar isn't here although she wanted so much to kick your ass," Emma said hoping to wipe the grin off of Gabriel's face, but it didn't.

"No, no, no Emma you misunderstand. I didn't set all of this up to get Shalimar here. This was only a… minor step into bringing her to me."

"What, so you're going to hold us for ransom?" Brennan asked a bit edgy as he noticed a new mutant threatening to shoot a stream of water at him.

"Of course not Brennan, you aren't important. You see all of this was to bring you here… Emma." Gabriel's smile widened as silence fell among Brennan and Emma. 

Then, finally deciding that she better say something, "in your dreams Ashlocke, you'll never bend my mind or play any of your little games with me."

"That's where you're wrong Emma," and at that Gabriel strode forward.

Immediately Brennan blocked Emma from Ashlocke and shot electricity from both his hands at him which he blocked of course. Brennan was about to shoot another stream out when then he was hit by several gallons of water from the aqua-based mutant. Then Gabriel powered up his energy blast and hit Brennan with it sending him flying. "Emma, Emma, Emma… there's nothing you can do to stop me so you might as well cooperate and make it easier on the both of us. You're going to be the key in getting what I want; with you there'll be nothing to stop me this time," Brennan only barely heard what Gabriel had said before he passed out on the pavement.

Then Gabriel flashed Emma another smile before he hit her with quite a high voltage of electricity knocking her out. The Strand gathered together into vehicles and headed off towards their hideout. Gabriel slid into his car with Emma slung over his shoulder. Putting her into the back seat, he looked over at Sharon in the passenger seat who looked a bit shaken. "Well Sharon, soon you'll play an important part in the execution of my plan. If it wasn't for you I probably won't be able to put Emma under my complete control." Sharon didn't seem too thrilled about the news. Gabriel just gave her as he stepped on the gas and pulled away violently.

__

~Meanwhile~

Brennan shook his head as he forced himself up to his feet. A bit dizzy he frantically looked around for Emma only to find he was alone. What Gabriel had done wasn't a dream, it had actually happened. Starting to panic at the fact that this whole thing was in fact a set-up and it was partially his fault that his teammate was taken hostage Brennan strode towards the Double Helix on the roof. Along the way he spotted Emma's comlink on the ground. Still unaware of how long he had been out he decided the best thing to do was contact Sanctuary. "Jesse…" came Brennan's shaky voice over the comlink.

"What is it Brennan?" Jesse asked noting the instability in his voice.

"Emma's gone. She's been taken by the Strand…" 

TBC

Ok whether you liked this chapter or not review any ways because if there's something that can better it I'm open to suggestions and will consider them all. I'll try to get chapter 3 up in a week or less as I did this chapter. Of course I'd prefer to get it up sooner. I Look forward to reading your feedback.


	3. chp 3 a tool & a strategy

I am SO sorry for taking so long to get this chapter up. I feel like slapping my self upside the head. I had a huge amount of writer's block but now this chapter is finally finished I hope you like it. Thanks to Quest for proof reading this. A BIG thanks to you reviewers, I may not have gotten past writer's block without your encouragement.

"Emma's gone. She's been taken by the Strand…" Brennan said somberly. 

Jesse sat there speechless in reaction to Brennan's words. While silence had overtaken both sides of the communiqué Adam walked in "Jesse what's going on?"

"Adam!" Brennan said in interruption to his question to Jesse. "The whole thing was a set-up to capture Emma."

Shalimar had just entered the lab and heard what Brennan said. "What the hell would that freak want with Emma?!?" Shalimar said joining into the conversation.

"That's what we need to find out," Adam said solemnly "Brennan, did you hear anything Ashlocke may have said that could clue us in?"

Brennan looked around frantically as he walked up to the Helix. "Adam I was barely conscious when she was taken, I could barely tell anyone was talking let alone comprehend what they were saying." Unexplained fear and anger seemed to rise within Jesse along with some resentment towards Brennan for letting them take her. He also partly resented himself for letting Emma go on the actual mission.

"Well let's go find her and bring her back," said a frustrated Jesse his voice beginning to rise.

"Look Jess we all want Emma back but we can't just rush in there. This guy is a complete lunatic and rushing in there would risk not only Emma's safety but all of ours." This sense of caution was a first for Shalimar, but that wasn't necessarily a good sign. It just meant she was so afraid of Gabriel's power that it scared her into submission.

Taking into account Shalimar's reaction to the situation Jesse relaxing a bit continued, "I just hope she's alright."

Shalimar's face relaxed a bit too "So do I… we all do, let's just hope we won't be too late."

****

~The Strand~

Emma moaned and slowly moved as she awoke from her unconsciousness. Opening her eyes she brought herself back to the reality of the situation. She was a captive of the Strand that was all she could remember at the time. Emma wondered whether Brennan had been captured as well, but she didn't have time to think about that. Realizing that she was without her comlink she was about to think up an escape plan when the sound of approaching footsteps rang in her ears.

"Well Emma it's good to see you conscious," Gabriel said dominantly, "but now its time for more important forces to go to work within the Strand."

A bit side tracked Emma snapped back to attention with the feelings she could sense in the room. "What is that supposed to mean?" She replied some how dreading the answer.

"You Emma are going to play a very important part in my plan." Gabriel continued. Right outside the room Sharon peered in through a crack in the doorway. For a normal human she would be to far away to pick up anything but because of her canine hearing ability she heard every breath. Her feral senses were telling her she would need to get this psionic out, and then maybe she could get Gabriel to come to his own senses.

"You know that sounds like loads of fun," Emma interrupted sarcastically, "but I think I'm just going to go now." Getting up to leave Emma started speed walking towards the door. Gabriel just smiled and with a wave of his wand he telekinetically dragged Emma back onto the chair she had been sitting in. Although this didn't surprise Emma she was left very disoriented. Gabriel walked up to her, hunching down he brought himself face to face with Emma, leaning with each hand on the chair's armrests.

"Now its time to do things my way…" Gabriel said and before Emma could even process what he said he placed his right hand on the back of her head holding her steady and the center of his pupils glowed a sickly green. Emma tried to look away but couldn't, and she began to intensely stare into his eyes. Then the same glow began in her eyes and she sat so still it was as if she were in a trance. "Well, now that's better." Gabriel went on saying but more smugly.

"Gabriel you can't do this." Sharon whispered harshly rushing onto the scene. "It just isn't right. Why don't you and I leave this place? I mean we could go far away, away from Mutant X and all our troubles." Sharon was not about to give up on the Gabriel that was the reason she joined the Strand.

"I am beginning to get tired of your incessant whining, and now it's time for you to see things as I see them." And with that Gabriel formed a sphere of light in front of his forehead (like Emma's) and before Sharon could run it hit her in the head causing her to spin on her heel and land on another chair in the room. Lifting her head she starred blankly at Gabriel but smiled.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked in voice that sounded more than willing.

"That's more like it. Now do what you do best," he said shooting her that smile of his. 

Sharon stood up and almost effortlessly strolled over and placed her hand just above Emma's forehead. Then concentrating hard a silvery light was forced from her hand and into Emma's mind. Once it went into her she kind of jerked backwards a bit in her chair and her eyes flashed a few times. When this procedure was done Sharon backed up next to Gabriel as Emma stood up. Her hair dangled in her face, so she flung her head back to get it out of her face. Turning to Gabriel she had a smile on her face and a glow in her eyes.

****

~Sanctuary~

Getting up from the computer console Shalimar had just finished searching for possible Strand hideouts. "Shalimar! Any luck?" Adam said as she entered the lab.

"Nope, any possible leads were dead ends. I just hope Jesse and Brennan are having better luck than we are. We… will find her won't we Adam? Adam looked up at her from his work.

"Of course," he answered to the child like question "I just pray we get to her before he does." Shalimar's worried stare met with Adam's.

******************************

Meanwhile Brennan and Jesse were out looking for any sort of clues around the scene of the abduction. Here is where Jesse lets off some of his steam.

"How can you have let Ashlocke get away with this?" Jesse mumbled angrily under his breath. Brennan stopped in his tracks and turned his gaze on Jesse.

"**Let** Ashlocke?!? Look you can imagine whatever you want but whatever happened I didn't let anything happen. It was a set up, if we had known we obviously wouldn't have gone in there now would we? Now lets just focus on looking for clues on getting Emma back." Jesse glanced back at Brennan has he had continued forward. After thinking for a bit Jesse realized that it was foolish of him to blame Brennan for something completely out of his hands.

"Hey man I'm sorry, it's just that it's frustrating you know? First Shalimar now Emma, I mean at least Shal wasn't taken as well."

"Well enough of that, too bad neither of us is telempathic otherwise we'd probably find Emma in a heartbeat."

**__**

Time Lapse

Nighttime, Jesse and Brennan got in touch with Sanctuary. "Adam no luck, we haven't found any clues or trails and we've been up and down this city for hours." Reported Brennan.

"Alright Brennan, you two come back now and you can go out first thing tomorrow."

"We're on our way." Said Jesse finishing up the contact. The two men were about to enter into the Helix as Jesse deactivated the cloak when they heard someone holler from behind.

"JESSE, BRENNAN!!! Wait up you guys!" It was Emma, miraculously. Both of them whipped around as they welcomed their friend and teammate back.

"Oh my God, are you alright?" Jesse asked very concerned.

"Hey I'm fine, just a bit shaken." She answered breathlessly.

"So they didn't do anything to you?" Questioned Brennan.

"No, I escaped just in time."

"Well then lets get you back to Sanctuary. Adam and Shalimar will be relieved." Jesse told her. _"I know I am,"_ he thought to himself. The three of them boarded the Helix as Brennan took the controls. Jesse switched on the video cam. "Adam! We got Emma back."

"You did?" he said in a relaxing voice, "Good how is she?"

"I'm fine Adam, I escaped." Then on the cam Shalimar came on.

"It's good to see that you're okay, we were getting worried."

****

~Sanctuary~

As the Helix landed Adam and Shalimar came out to meet them. When Shalimar saw Emma she gave her a friendly hug.

"You sure you're alright?" Shalimar asked as she released from the hug.

"Come on people I'm more than fine," she said "really," as an answer to doubting faces.

"As long as you're sure," Brennan said with a mocking smile and voice.

"Hey!" Shalimar said, playfully hitting Brennan as payback for Emma. "You pick on someone your own size."

"I'm sure that'll be hard for you to find Brennan." Jesse said mocking **him**. As this went on Adam just checked Emma's forehead and pulse as they all walked into Sanctuary. Adam caught up but Emma still hung back a few feet and walked slower than the others.

__

"So, how was that?" Emma said mentally.

__

"Perfect." A separate thought, other than her own answered back. _"They won't expect a single thing coming, and it's all thanks to you Emma."_

"How much longer must I go on with this little charade? Pretending to be someone else." Emma asked this voice in her head.

__

"Don't worry not much longer. Otherwise all the fun would be taken out of the game. They can't expect anything, but we can't do it immediately either. For me to win we have to take them by total surprise and what's a better surprise other than betrayal."

"Well, you can count on me no matter what Gabriel."

"That was the answer I was hoping for."

TBC

Tell me whether you like it or not, but not only that. I'd like suggestions as to better the story. What do YOU think will happen next, I challenge you to find one thing you think is wrong with the story so far besides spelling and grammar errors. PLEASE REVIEW!!! I will really appreciate it. This time I will get the next chapter up sooner than 2 months.


	4. chp 4 playing games

Thank you, to all of you who reviewed. I read all of them carefully and took your suggestions, although I wasn't able to make everyone happy. I hope you all like this chapter (personally I like it better than my other 3). Thanks to Quest for editing yet another chapter. Here's chapter 4…

****

~Sanctuary~

__

Early, Early Morning

It was way before sunrise; no sound yet existed in Sanctuary. The only thing present was silence. Suddenly, a moving shadow could be seen projected by the light from the equipment, a solitary soul moving about without a noise. Arriving at the computer console she stopped, leaning down she brought it online as the sound of beeps and the tapping of keys filled the room. On the screen several windows were brought into view. A small sound filled the room of an instant message being sent. The person opened a file from the message with a floor plan of a building. Suddenly, quick footsteps echoing nearby caused an abrupt end to this exchange. A few quick taps and the screensaver was all that could be seen. The footsteps came to a stop near the computer console.

"I could've sworn someone was here," Shalimar said aloud to herself. Her eyes going feral she searched the darkness of Sanctuary. "Brennan?!? Jesse?!? Adam?!? Emma?!?" Shalimar raised her voice to the darkness but no answer came, implying that anyone had been there at all. After pacing the area she shrugged it off and went to bed.

__

Later that Morning

Jesse had just gotten up and walking by he saw movement in the dojo. Making sure to stay out of sight he backed up behind a corner and just peered out. There fighting a couple of very difficult holograms was … Emma. She rarely ever fought, let alone practiced, and here she was fighting like there was no tomorrow_. "It was as if she were a different person,"_ thought Jesse. Very slowly he walked past pretending not to see her.

"Hey Jesse!" Emma shouted as she kicked a hologram in the stomach causing them all to vanish. She hurried down the steps to him wiping the sweat off her forehead with a towel as she went. "So, you wanna work out with me?"

"Ah… no thanks, maybe later," said Jesse a little offhanded.

"Come ON! Why not?!?" Emma asked with anger rising in her voice.

"Em, you okay?" Jesse asked cautiously. She had just had a major mood change. One minute she was pleasant and exhausted, the next minute angry and frustrated.

"Oh I'm fine, just fine." She answered in a seductive sort of tone. She then leaned towards him as if she were going to kiss him. As she got closer Jesse began leaning in, but she faked him out, quickly shifted to the right and walked away giving a satisfied hair toss. She only glanced back once with a slightly sadistic smile on her face, in her mind she couldn't help but laugh. She left Jesse standing there a bit dumbfounded and entranced.

__

"That's my girl" Gabriel's voice echoed in Emma's head. _"Let go, be reckless… have fun. But, don't forget your assignment."_

"Don't worry, I'm just getting started," answered Emma _"they won't know what hit them."_

Just after lunch Shalimar and Adam were discussing a new mutant they were trying to track down. Apparently the Strand was also pursuing this mutant, and they were saying how they needed to get to him before the Strand. "He's obviously afraid Adam, we can't just go in there again and assume he'll trust us!" Shalimar said with a hint of annoyance.

"I'm aware of that Shalimar--"

"Then don't send Brennan in, you know him he'll just make it worse, especially since he didn't do too great last time." Shalimar interrupted.

"I don't see what the problem is…" Emma butted in as she entered the lab. "We go in there get the kid and get out, it's as simple as that." She continued casually as if they were determining what movie to see instead of how to possibly save someone's life from a sociopath. Both Adam and Shalimar looked at Emma like she was crazy, but she wasn't joking around from the look on her face and she definitely wasn't acting serious.

"Is anything wrong Emma?" Shalimar asked shooting Adam a confounded look.

"Nope, everything is just perfect" she replied.

"Maybe you should go lie down and get some rest," suggested Adam. Immediately Emma's blithe face turned a bit horrid.

"I SAID, there's nothing WRONG with me." Emma forced out as if she were a 2-year-old on the verge of a tantrum. Shooting them both a look of disgust she shoved some test tubes of the counter top and stormed out leaving her teammates with appalled looks upon their faces.

Early that evening Jesse was going to go ask Emma if she'd like to go to a club that night, when coming to her doorway he sees her wearing a **very** skimpy outfit with a lot of cleavage showing. She was looking at herself in a mirror, in her reflection Emma saw Jesse standing at her door and she spun around to face him. She walked up to him and touched his arm in a flirtatious manner. "What do you think?" she asked spinning around allowing him to see her wardrobe. Jesse was speechless but he couldn't resist looking her over. In order to keep his emotions from escaping he had to take a deep breath.

"You—look really…" Jesse's voice faded as he kept staring until he realized what he was doing he snapped back to attention and finishing his answer. "Great, fantastic, really-- _ahem_… sensational." His last word rested on his tongue, as he didn't say it as loud. Emma smiled, she was very aware of what just happened, but this wasn't the kind of innocent smile she usually wore, it was more like the type of smile you'd see on Shal's face.

"Well, that's good to know…" she said lightly and then she decided to influence the situation. In her mind she pictured her dreamscape and in there she and Jesse were kissing. Then she transferred that reality over to Jesse's mind, which in turn caused him to lean in and kiss her._ "Perfect, just perfect. Soon the whole team will be within my grasp,"_ she thought to herself.

****

~The Strand~

Sitting in a comfortable chair in one of his many lounging rooms Gabriel blinked himself out of a concentrated trance. "So?" a voice asked from behind him causing him to turn around, it was Sharon.

"Just as I planned. With this new Emma her cautious nature won't get in the way of the plan and it's simpler than plain mind control since all I have to do is force out her sub-conscience. **And** I wouldn't have been able to do that without you Sharon." He reached from his seat and pulled her into a kiss. "Soon I **will** have Shalimar, and as for the rest of Mutant X…" he made a motion with his finger as if slitting his throat. At that both he and Sharon laughed a low malicious laugh.

TBC…

Tell me what you think of this chapter, as always every review is appreciated. Tell me what you think of Emma's "new" personality, I'm working very hard in developing it. Here's a question for you guys and I want **your** opinion. What do you think will happen next in the story? I want to hear everyone's opinion and if I like your idea I may just add a little of that into my story. Next post I'll let you know whose I liked the best.


	5. Note

****

Please Read! This is an offer to people out there so read through this

Okay everybody, this is a desperate author's note to everyone who has read this far in my story. Now I would post another chapter but I've grown bored with this story and the next one that would be a sequel to it and is based on a Brennan/Shalimar relationship.

I'm posting this to thank all of you for your reviews but not only that. If anyone would like to take the challenge to finish writing this story I will post it and give you full credit (if I don't then I'll sue myself and give you the money, or you can curse me and everything). If someone takes up the responsibility of writing the rest of this story I will not tell anyone I wrote those chapters myself.

Now if you'd like to but don't have a good basic idea of how to end I can give you the gist of the ending summary and you can take it from there. If no one wants to pick up the story then I probably won't finish it at all cause there are other Mutant X stories that I can't stand not writing and I can't focus on this one any more.

If you don't wish to write this one there is another one I originally planned on writing but won't for the same reasons. If no one wants to write that one then I'll live with not writing it but I'd really like to see it written out because personally I think it's one of my best Shalimar/Brennan ideas involving a lot of irony, hidden attraction, and playing with the reader's mind. Any S/B authors out there who'd like to take up the other story just send me a review or e-mail saying so and the same goes for those who want to write this story and I stand by my word. To be easier those who'd like to write the S/B story can just post on their own account unless they don't have one, then I'll post it in their name. For this one all I'd ask is you say that the idea was mine but the writing and details are yours. Actually I don't need credit, just naming it the same thing would be fine. The title of the S/B fic would be **KILLER INSTINCT** so contact or review if you're interested in picking up the fics or if you think you can convince me to write them myself or to just say "what a shame!" "¡Que lastima!" Or what ever you can do that too.


	6. chp 5 mixing things up

Now I'd like to inform you that this chapter is **not** my work, this chapter is thanks to another writer "shadow_fox3553". All I did was edit it and give her the basic story line so this is hers. I'd like to give her a big thanks for taking up the finishing of this story.

"Hey Emma have you seen Shalimar?" Brennan asked and then realized what she was wearing. "Is something wrong?!? 'Cause this is not you." He pointed to her outrageous outfit only to soon regret his words when he saw a look of anger and hurt.

"And what is 'me' Brennan?" She asked but didn't let him answer "If you weren't so busy tripping head over heels on Shalimar maybe you would notice other people huh!?!" She stated as a fact rather a question. Brennan just stood there not knowing what to say.

__

"Am I really head over heels on Shalimar" He asked himself.

"Yes" Emma stated clearly as if he had spoken aloud. "Are you reading me?" He asked upset and a little angry that she would trespass into his mind.

"Relax Brennan" she said with a smile and hit him with a psionic blast. He suddenly couldn't resist her and kissed her most passionately. The kiss continued for a few minutes and Emma's hands were moving up and down along his back and Brennan's hands were all over Emma's body. Emma smiled when the kiss was over and looked past Brennan and straight into Jesse's eyes. Jesse just turned around and stomped off to the dojo to blow off a lot of steam. But, Jesse wasn't the only one who witnessed this little incident; Shalimar had just rounded the corner and saw the whole thing. She stood there unable to express the emotion she felt and just turned back to her room and slammed her door. At the sound of the slamming door Brennan shook his head as if trying to remember something.

"What was I saying?" he asked. 

"Shal is in Jesse's room doing what they usually do" She continued with a seductive smile as if nothing had happened in between his question and her answer. Brennan was pissed and he, like the others, stormed out. When he had left Emma spoke out loud to no one in particular "This is just way too fun"

__

"I'm glad you're enjoying your self?" She heard the voice inside her head.

"Oh I am, now if you will excuse me I have some lives to disrupt" she thought to her self but knew that Gabriel had herd her.

An hour passed after Brennan had thought about what Emma had said and what she had meant. He walked over to Jesse's room and knocked, when no one answered he entered the room and found Jesse topless and his chest beaded with moisture. His blood boiled.What Brennan didn't know was that Jesse had just come out of the shower after having had blown off some steam.

"Man, I can't believe you?" Brennan yelled in anger.

"I should be telling that to you not the other way around" Jesse stated.

"Well I am not the one fooling around with a woman my 'Best Friend' likes" Brennan shouted not believing that Jesse would do that to him.

Jesse took a few steps closer to him "What the hell are you talking about?!? Weren't you the one just making out with Emma when you very well know how I feel about her?" Jesse fought back in the same tone.

Instead of telling Jesse that he had no idea what he was talking about in his state of anger he yelled, "Well at least I'm not sleeping with her now am I?" This statement pissed Jesse off and he charged straight at Brennan and punched him in the face.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE?!?" An extremely pissed off Adam asked. "We are having some serious problems with Gabriel and here you guys are beating each other up."

"Tell him" Jesse pointed to Brennan who was about to respond but Adam spoke first.

"I don't care who started it now pull your act together and grow up because I don't know how you're going to beat Ashlocke when you two can't get along" He turned and left the room holding the bridge of his nose.

Down and across the hallway Ashlocke was tormenting Shalimar. After she had seen Brennan and Emma kissing she turned around and went straight back to her room. She lay on her bed feeling hurt and betrayed. "How could my best friend do something like that to me, when she knew I liked Brennan so much?" She asked herself. Tears started rolling down her cheeks. Even though friends had betrayed her before, this time it was different, it was like being betrayed by her sister.

After an hour of lying on her bed feeling hurt she cried herself to sleep. Half an hour into her sleep was when she began tossing and turning.

__

"What's wrong Shalimar?" Gabriel asked_. _

"Get out of my head!!" She yelled

__

"Shalimar, Shalimar, Shalimar when are you going to realize that we are meant for each other" 

"Get out of my head" She yelled again

__

"Just face it Shalimar I love you and you love me"

"I don't love you and I want nothing to do with you" She told him hoping he would leave her alone, but knew the chances of that happening were slim to none.

__

"Brennan doesn't care about you Shalimar, not the way I do"

"SHUT UP!! You don't know what you're talking about!" She told him but in a way she knew he was right.

__

"Come on Shalimar if he cared he wouldn't have kissed Emma and enjoyed it so much. He doesn't love you or even want you"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!" She yelled trying to wake her self-up_._

"Don't bother, the only way you're getting up is if I let you" He smiled at her and disappeared_._

The second he disappeared flames ignited all around her_._

"It's just a dream, It's not real it's just a dream" She kept telling herself. Even though it was a dream it didn't mean she wasn't dead afraid of the fire that surrounded her_._

Emma lay on her bed feeling good about how everything was turning out_. "This is where we have a bit of fun with Shalimar and Adam."_ She herd the familiar voice. "Oh goody" She got up of her bed and went down to the kitchen. 

Shalimar was tossing and turning in her bed, beads of sweat were on her forehead. "_Hello again Shalimar" _She looked up and saw Gabriel but no flames

__

.

"Leave me alone" She almost begged him_._

"If that's what you want" with that he vanished and again the flames appeared_._

"GABRIEL!" She yelled and he appeared and the fire went away.

"Why Shalimar? Miss me already?" He asked with a wicked smile. She glared at him with her gold feral eyes.

__

"Why are you doing this?" He took several steps closer to her and cupped her chin in one of his hands and started her in the eyes_. _

"So you can see I care for you and that I want you" 

"Keep dreaming Ashlock"

"Well you see that is exactly what you are doing" He let go of her chin and took a few steps back

__

.

"If you even cared for me Ashlock you wouldn't be doing this to me" He stared off as if considering what she said and nodded_._

"You know you're right, I'll give you a break" with that he left_._

Adam entered Shalimar's room after he had knocked and received no answer. He found Shalimar lying in her bed, tears running down her face and her forehead with a sweaty sheen. He shook her lightly, and she jumped her arms going instantly around him. He held her as she sobbed into his chest. "It's okay Shalimar, you're safe." As soon as Adam had finished his sentence she stiffened.

__

"He doesn't know what he is talking about because you are MINE!" 

"Get him out Adam, Please. I can handle it anymore Adam please get him out" Adam sighed and very carefully carried her to the lab. On the way to the lab Adam passed by Jesse's room and saw that the two were back at it and this time they were using not only words but also fists, he shook his head and kept walking.

"I'll deal with them later" he told himself.

"EMMA!" he called and after a few minutes she entered the lab holding a slice of pizza in her hand. Adam looked at her a second but then turned his attention back to Shalimar. "Can you get Ashlocke out of her head?" She walked over to where Shalimar was holding her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth and took a bite of her slice of pizza.

"Sure I'll give it a try" Adam stared at her in disbelief. She connected to Shalimar who soon shut her eyes with a look of serenity on her face. 

"Thank you" 

"No problem" She winked at Adam, smiled and left the lab_._

"I'll have to do some tests on her," thought Adam making a mental note.

After some antibiotics were inserted into Shalimar's arm for the fever she had he kissed her forehead and left the lab.

"Will you two stop already?" The boys both stopped and looked at their very pissed off Leader. "What the hell is the matter with the two of you?" They both started talking at the same time. 

"He's sleeping with Shalimar when he knew how I felt towards her" Brennan pointed to Jesse.

"He kissed Emma" Jesse pointed to Brennan.

Brennan then turned to Jesse "Man I did nothing of that sort I LIKE Shalimar too much, I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize my chances with her."

"And what's your story?" 

"Adam I was in search of Emma so I could ask her if she wanted to go out tonight, but Brennan was all over her" he gave him a dirty glare as he spoke to Adam.

"Man you're crazy, I don't remember any of that, all I remember is talking to Emma. We had a little discussion and then I asked her where Shal was and she said with Jesse doing what they 'usually' do."

"Look Brennan, I would never do that to you, you're my best friend. Plus, I like Emma, Shal is like a sister to me."

"I believe you, but I really don't remember kissing Emma for some reason." He turned to Adam "She has been acting kind of strange lately."

"Yeah, she led me on and then acted like nothing had happened"

"Wait a minute you guys are telling me you went straight to fighting without even talking to each other first?" They both lowered their heads; ashamed by how they had acted. "Let's go find Emma, I have a couple questions for her, but first lets get you to the lab and cleaned up" He pointed to their bruised, cut faces.

Meanwhile in the lab, Shalimar was having problems of her own. _"Oh Shalimar" _

"Go away!" 

"Not until you give me what I want"

"Go to hell"

"Fine but I'll take you with me" with a quick move of his hand there was fire all over_. "So what do you think of hell Shalimar?" _She was now having trouble breathing_. "There is something I want you to see" _He said and moved aside, there, there was a picture too small to see who it was of so she let her eyes glow to get a better look. _"Having trouble seeing_?" he asked and the picture then suddenly enlarged into a gigantic size. She gasped when she saw what the picture was of. _"Shalimar I thought you would be happy for them, after all Emma is your best friend"_ She just stared at the picture of her best friend and the man she had dreamed of being with ever since they had first met and began to cry. _"Oh come on, I tried to tell you that he didn't want you but you never listened" _He said and left.

She sat up in the medical chair with the tears running down her face. "Hey you ok?" She turned to the familiar voice and just stared at him. When he moved closer to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" She yelled as she got off the chair and ran to the other side of the room, making sure not to turn her back on him in order to watch his every move.

"Shalimar, what did I do?" He asked moving closer to her.

"Stay away from me, please just go away" she said a new set of tears began to fall.

He nodded, "If that's what you want" and left the lab. She got up and ran to her room without saying another word to Jesse or Adam who had both asked her what was wrong.

TBC…

I know I didn't write this but please review anyway because I'd like to know what you think of it still because I think she did a great job, don't you?


	7. chp 6 choices

Once again I remind you this chapter is not my work but shadow_fox3553's work. All I do is edit the chapters but I still hope you like it.

Both Jesse and Adam gave one another puzzled looks at how Shalimar had reacted to Brennan. "Let's go have a talk with Emma shall we?" Jesse nodded and followed Adam out the lab. They walked to Emma's room across from Shalimar's. 

"Hey Emma, you in there?!?" Jesse asked just outside her door. When there was no answer they opened the door slowly and found the room to be empty. Adam raised his ring to his mouth.

"Emma" he called out. They turned their heads to where they herd Adam's voice from a comlink. It was just past Emma's bed they rushed over and found her laying on the floor unconscious. "Oh my God, Emma." Jesse picked her up and went to the lab with Adam right behind him. He placed her on the chair in the center of the room. The familiar yellow beam scanned her from head to toe. 

"What's wrong with her Adam?" Jesse asked with a worried expression on his face.

"Give me a chance to look at the monitor first" He turned around after he had seen the results with a look of disappointment on his face.

"So what's wrong with her?" Jesse asked impatiently. 

"Her brain wave frequency levels are high, too high" he sighed

"So what is that suppose to mean Adam," Jesse gave him the look that said "and in English please".

"I don't exactly know how to explain it, it's kind of like having a war with your self in your mind." 

"That doesn't help, so what caused it?"

"I don't know yet but I a have feeling it has to do with Ashlocke and how everything is going crazy around here"

***

Brennan sat by the reflecting pool reading his poetry book. "Maybe I should go talk to her…" he told himself. "but what if she doesn't want to talk to me though?" he asked, "well then she will just have to listen." He made up his mind, closed his book and went to her room.

He knocked on the door, knowing she wouldn't answer him he walked in. He found her sitting on the bed, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

__

" Am I the reason she's crying?" The hurt he had expanded_._

"Shal can we talk?" he asked moving a few feet closer to her bed. At the first step he took she got up from the bed and went to the corner of her room trying to get away from him. 

"Shal please. Just tell me what I did." He sighed.

He ran his hand through his dark hair "Well if you're not going to talk then just listen." He looked her straight in the eye but she turned her head away avoiding his gaze. He shook his head.

"Fine!" He said sounding harsher then he had meant to which caused her to jerk her head back and look at him and a tear rolled down her cheek. 

Brennan moved a few steps closer but stopped when he saw her starting to panic when she realized she couldn't back up anymore.

"Look Shal, I don't know what I did to make you angry at me, and what ever stupid thing I did I'm sorry. You're not making things easier by not telling me what I did." He looked at her with sad eyes. "Please Shal just tell me. You know I would never hurt you intentionally, you're my best friend." 

His last statement only seemed to make things worse. "GO AWAY!!" She screamed. 

"Would you just listen to me?" He asked "Please just tell me what I did or whatever you think I did so I can apologize. I hate it when you're mad at me" When he obtained no answer he got up and walked to the door before leaving he turned to her "I'm sorry that you would actually think I would hurt you on purpose. I thought you knew me better then that, but I guess not." With that he left her room and slammed the door of his own room after entering causing her to jump.

__

"Please, don't tell me you believed any of that?" 

"GET THE HELL OUT!!" Her mind exclaimed.

__

"Shalimar you are trying too hard to get rid of me. You need me. You just don't know it yet and soon you will need me to know what I did to Emma." He told her.

__

"What do you mean, 'what you did to Emma'?" She asked with a note of fear in her voice, _"What did you do to her?!?!"_

"Why don't you go ask Adam?" with that he left.

Though she was angry with her 'friend' she couldn't help but worry and ran out of her room heading straight to the lab knowing Adam would be there.

"Adam he did something to Emma" she rushed into the lab.

"Calm down Shalimar, who's he?" He asked though deep down knew the answer to his question.

"Gabriel, he did something to her and told me to ask you." 

"Well I don't exactly know what he did to her, but her brain waves are extremely high and knowing Gabriel the only thing I can guess is she having a mental battle with herself, caused by him." he told her.

__

"He is a very smart man"

"What?" she asked the voice in her head not knowing she had spoken out loud.

Adam thinking she was talking to him answered her. "Like I said it's just a guess, but…" He was cut off by Shalimar.

"I wasn't talking to you Adam." After seeing the puzzled look she received she quickly said, "I was just thinking out loud. Is there anything you can do, to help her?" He shook his head.

"No, not until I know what Gabriel did to her." 

__

"I know what I did to her" Ashlocke grinned mockingly, while leaning on the wall behind Adam.

She left the lab and told Adam to tell her if he needed anything and walked back to her room.

__

"What did you do to her?!?" She asked again, losing temper.

__

"Well let's just say if I don't tell you how to reverse what I did she will die." He smiled enjoying the moment though he had no idea that his plan would change so as much as it has. But, he thought to himself,_ 'things are going just the way I wanted them to, not the way I originally wanted things to go but either way I get Shalimar'_ he couldn't help but smile.

__

"And what exactly would it take for you to tell us what you did to her" She saw his smile widen_. _

"You know all it would take for me to tell you how to reverse what I did is…" he paused as if thinking._ "YOU!"_

"You can't be serious," She said furiously.

__

"You know I wouldn't joke about something like that." She just sent a death glare at him.

__

"Well I will let you think about it, but remember if you don't come to me Adam will never figure out what I did and then Emma will die." He stopped, about to leave her mind.

__

"But then again who cares? She did betray you and hurt you, but I'm sure she enjoyed every moment she had with Brennan" He left. Shalimar picked up her alarm clock and threw it across the room causing it to bust when it hit the wall. 

'What am I suppose to do?' She asked her self-trying to make up her mind. "Maybe I should just let her get what she deserves… No Shalimar!" she stopped her train of thought. "She's your best friend…. Was you best friend…oh why are things always this complicated." She thought to herself. Several minutes later she had made up her mind. For the rest of the night she had nothing else to do, so she got up, went to her bathroom, showered, then went to bed.

TBC…

Please review, I know the author reads them so tell how much you like her writing.


	8. chp 7 rescue mission

COMPLETE! Well here's the final chapter, I hope you enjoyed this tag team style of writing. Of course I didn't originally plan on it but it worked out very well. Once again I only edited it so review to give your comments to the writer. 

Shalimar lay awake in her bed for two hours thinking whether she was making the right decision or not before she decided to get up, take a shower and hoped everything would work for the best.

"Hey man" Jesse said walking up to Brennan who was sitting on top of the stairs of the dojo. 

"Hey Jess what's up?" He said not looking away from the spot on the wall he had been staring at.

"Not much, did you talk to her?" he asked referring to Shalimar 

Brennan shook his head yes "she won't talk to me though." He said with a frown "she won't listen to me, she won't even look me in the eye for more then two seconds!" Brennan said getting frustrated. 

"Well just give her a little time" he gave him a reassured smile, but it didn't seem to do any good 

"How's Emma?" 

"Adam can't figure out what Gabriel did to her and so there is nothing he can do right now"

"Oh, you want to play some basketball?" he asked, quickly changing the subject noticing that it upset him to talk about it. Jesse noticed what Brennan did and smiled thankful that this subject did not have to continue. He nodded and both walked up the stairs to where the basketball hoop was. As they were getting ready to play Brennan turned to where he thought he had heard something,

"Did you hear that?" 

Jesse shook his head no; "you're hearing things" 

"Yeah, you're probably right" he shook the thought out of his head and started playing.

*****

Shalimar sighed in relief that she had managed to sneak out without being caught, not that she had to try hard not to be heard. When she was a couple miles away from Sanctuary she starting wondering if leaving her friends without saying goodbye to their face was the right thing to do but as quick as that thought was in her head it left. She told herself that leaving was the right thing to do, saying goodbye would just be too hard and Adam wouldn't let her go anyway.

She rode for an hour until she got to the warehouse where Gabriel had told her to go to. She parked her bike hid the keys in her bike and walked into the warehouse. The second she entered Shalimar found her self surrounded by five new mutants and a couple that stood farther from her than the rest. To her left she found a man of about 5'2 with blond hair and very bulky. Next to him stood a slightly taller brunette girl. The Two girls standing not very far from her look like identical twins both with light brown hair. But the one that caught her attention more was the man closest to her right. He had dark hair, dark eyes, and was tall. He instantly reminded her of Brennan and she felt all the hurt inside. 

"Shalimar" she snapped her head away from the man to her right and to the familiar face of Gabriel Ashlocke.

"Glad to see you came, I knew you would." he turned his head the girl standing next to him. "See, I told you it would work didn't I Sharon?" she nodded in reply they both turned their attention back to Shalimar.

"Cut the crap. We had a deal! I only came so that you would tell me what you did to Emma" 

"Well Shalimar, I didn't know you wanted to get straight to business. In that case I have a bedroom in the back where we won't be disturbed." he smiled seductively at her, she let out a low growl.

"What did you do to her?" she ignored his comment but that didn't mean she hadn't heard it. 

"What if you change your mind and leave after I tell you what I did?" she looked at the guys and the girls surrounding her then looked at him.

"Just tell me what you did to her and as long as Adam finds a cure you have my word I won't leave."

"You know Shalimar you are such a loyal friend. I don't know why you are here after what Emma did to you."

"Well it was you that was controlling her" She shot back.

"Oh is that what you think? Well Shalimar, let me inform you that I did no such thing. All I did was tell her to relax and be loose with the help of Sharon here of course and the rest well the rest was all Emma's doing."

His comment seemed to have gotten her thinking about her decision to come here but she threw the thought out as soon as she realized she was thinking it. "Just tell me what you did to her!!!" she shouted, her voice becoming horse.

"It's simple really and it's not what I did to her, it was all thanks to Sharon." he gave a smile to the girl next to him. 

"Well right about now Emma is probably having a mental battle between her conscious and unconscious emotions" he then went on. "What am I talking about you ask? Well she's battling with the her every day emotions like being nice, comforting, caring and the emotions she keeps well hidden like being relaxed not having to worry about hurting people and not showing her true feelings."

"How do you reverse it?" she asked getting irritated with him.

He looked at Sharon who only shook her head "I can't reverse it. I'm not strong enough."

"All you have to do, I'm sorry, Adam has to do is find someone strong enough to reverse it" Shalimar hoped that Adam had heard all that.

****

Adam had moved to the computer as soon as he heard the familiar voice of Shalimar. He heard everything that was exchanged between the two and was surprised that he hadn't even noticed she was not at Sanctuary. He quickly began tracking her comlink when the signal disconnected he cursed out loud.

"What's wrong Adam?" Jesse asked as he and Brennan made there way toward him.

"Shalimar went to Gabriel to find out what he did to Emma. We have what we want now, the reason why Emma's brain waves are so high," Adam sighed. "and he has what he wants now, Shalimar."

"What!" Brennan shouted. "What do you mean he has her?!? we have to go get her back right now!! Did you get a location?"

"Brennan, take a deep breath would you? I know you are worried about her but we can't just go in there and get her out, first we have to make a plan. I don't have her location but I have some sources that might know where the strand is. Jesse I want you to get on the computer and search the database for a very strong psionic. That is our only chance of getting Emma cured and then hopefully she will get a hit off of Shalimar and we can go get her"

He turned to Brennan who was obviously displeased with the way Adam was doing everything, he just wanted to go get Shalimar back. Adam seemed to know what he was thinking and continued "we can't go in there with just two new mutants and myself. We will be incredibly out numbered and then we won't have a chance of getting her back at all." 

Brennan nodded but it didn't mean he had to agree with the plan. "Do you have anything for me, or can I just go to my room" He said unpleasantly.

"No, nothing at the moment." Brennan turned and left the lab and made his way to his room. He glanced at the door to Shalimar's room and hoped they would get her back, it just wouldn't be the same without her. Then all he had to do was fix everything between them.

****

Shalimar woke up to find her self in a dark room not remembering what had happened and then it all came rushing back at once. One second she had hoped Adam had heard everything and then out of nowhere she was hit in the back of the head by the man that reminded her so much of Brennan. 

__

"Even his look alike hurt me. That's telling me something," she thought to herself.

"Shalimar you're awake. How did you sleep? The bed wasn't to uncomfortable was it?"

"What do you care how I slept and for the record just being here is uncomfortable." She growled at him less than pleased about being here and his stupid little questions that did their job of getting on her nerves only made it worse.

"Oh Shalimar, why do you always have to be so harsh, don't you see that I care for you?" Shalimar just rolled her eyes, she had heard all this before.

He got angry and entered her head. _"Why do you have to be like this Shalimar? I love you, he doesn't. You're in love with the wrong guy and you know it. He has done nothing but hurt you, don't you want something better then that?"_ He stopped in hopes that she would answer him and tell him he was right but she just sat there and stared at him as if he hadn't said a word. 

__

"Well, now I will leave you but we'll see if you change your mind by the time I get back." He left her head and in a matter of seconds images began to fill her head.

****

Jesse got up from the computer letting it do its job on finding a Psionic and went into the lab where Emma lay on the bed. He stared at her for awhile and all the anger he had toward her for kissing Brennan and leading him on vanished. He smiled and left when he heard the computer beep.

He looked at the photographs of the people that matched what he had been searching for. Two female three male he looked at the profiles of all of them. The men were not as strong enough to do the job. He looked at the two girls remaining one was young yet strong, very strong. She once helped wipe out the memory of a large audience that had witnessed a fight between a group of mutants and GSA agents. She was the one, all he had to do was tell Adam.

Adam returned with a small smile on his face. "Jesse did you find anything?" Jesse nodded. "Josephine Parker. She's only sixteen but she is a very strong psionic" 

"Did you find out where they are Adam?" Brennan walked toward them. 

"Yes, they are at an abandoned warehouse. I want you two to go get Josephine and explain to her why we need her while I work a plan. We'll still need Emma to help find Shalimar it's not exactly a small warehouse." Both nodded and hurried to the Double Helix.

***

They reached the building where the girl was supposedly living. Jesse knocked once… no answer. He knocked again… no answer he tried a third and a fourth time when no one answered they turned to leave but the door swung open.

Both Jesse and Brennan looked at the young girl standing in front of them she looked much older then she was. "Hi, can I help you?" she asked looking at them strangely.

Neither answered for a few minutes. "Look you just interrupted my shower so you better have a good reason for it other then just standing there." She told them a bit annoyed, but there was no harm in what she had said.

"Hi" Jesse said shyly noticing the girl had been in the shower no wonder it took her forever to get the door.

"Look, we need your help." Brennan said not wanting waste anytime. 

"What do you mean you need my help, you don't even know me."

"Can we just come in, we can't talk about this out here."

"No! I don't even know you so would you please just leave"

"We know you're a… new mutant" Jesse said the last part quietly. "So can you please help us?" The girl looked him in the eye and saw that he wouldn't cause her harm and let them enter.

Brennan and Jesse told her about themselves and Mutant X and explained the whole story to her. She sat there for a few seconds quiet. "And I'm the only one that can help you?" she asked not believing that part, she was only sixteen. 

"Yes, you're the only one strong enough for the job." Jesse replied. She nodded as though thinking.

"Okay, I'll do it. Just give me time to change and don't try anything 'funny' I'm a psionic after all." She told them with a grin. It felt like eternity before the girl came out of the room she had entered only moments before. 

***

Standing before Emma, she turned to the older man that had told her what she needed to do. She sighed and returned her attention the women lying on the bed. She concentrated for a full five minutes before she started to break that link that was there. Josephine had felt it the instant she had entered Emma's mind. She slowly began breaking the link piece by piece, like breaking apart an intricate puzzle.

***

Gabriel was lying on his bed when his head started to feel like someone was pounding it with a sledgehammer. After what seemed like forever the pain stopped but he had a minor headache like a bunch of needles poking at the back of his mind.

Shalimar was relieved that the horrid images of Emma and Brennan together and of Brennan rejecting her stopped, yet she was worried that Gabriel was coming. She waited several minutes, when no one came she put her ear close to the door to listen and see if someone was coming. When she didn't hear anything she tried the door handle which was surprisingly unlocked. Guess the part of the images stopping wasn't part of Ashlocke's plan.

She made her way down the halls without being detected by anyone. Just as she thought she was free a strand member yelled after her. Shalimar started running for the door, threw it open and fled down the street into an alley. She found herself at a dead end and surrounded. 

"Great just what I need." She said and started to fight. The odds of winning this one were slim and she knew it. She felt a kick hit her back and she fell to the floor trying to catch her breath but the kicking didn't seem to stop. 

"Gabriel doesn't want her dead!" Sharon yelled at the other members and they refrained from kicking knowing all too well what Gabriel would do to them if they killed her. Just as two of the men bent down and picked her up by the shoulders bolts of electricity came at them from the other end of the ally. The two dropped Shalimar to the ground as they collapsed. She made a small cry as she slammed to the floor. 

Brennan ran over to her as Jesse, Emma and Adam fought the remaining mutants. "Hey, you okay?" He asked her with a smile on his face. She didn't answer him but just stared at him. 

"Shal please say something, I know you're mad at me but just tell me your going to be okay. Please." He wanted to hear it from her. 

She knew Emma was under Gabriel's control, still it hurt her. She gave him a small smile, she had never been able to stay angry with him. "It hurts" she told him. He noticed she was having difficulty breathing. 

"Adam will fix it when we get to Sanctuary" He smiled at her glad she was no longer mad at him. "Hey Shal?" he said softly.

She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Do you think that maybe we can go out to dinner or a drink or something?" he asked quietly. 

"I'd love too." She said it so softly that he hadn't heard her and took it as a bad sign 

"If you don't want to it's fine, I understand." he was stopped by her reply

"Brennan, I said I would."

"Oh, okay" he said as he started turning red and looking a bit sheepish. 

Adam and the rest of the team ran over to Shalimar and Brennan. "Hey you okay?" Adam asked concerned.

"I can't breathe." was all Shal answered. 

Brennan carried her into the Helix, when they entered Jesse flew them back home. Emma went to where the rest of the team was. "I'm so sorry you guys. I didn't mean to do any of the things I did" she turned her attention more to Shalimar "I'm so sorry Shal it's all my fault you got hurt." Her eyes began to water.

"It's not your fault" was all she could say before she started coughing up blood, which only seemed to make Emma sob even more. 

"She's right Emma, it's not your fault, you didn't control what you did." Brennan told her.

"I knew what I was doing and I should have stopped myself but I didn't" 

"Ashlocke was controlling you, you didn't have a choice Emma. Don't be so hard on yourself" Adam told her. 

"Yeah but she could have died because of me." 

"Yes she could have but she also didn't because of you." 

The Double Helix landed and they rushed Shalimar to the lab. The team waited outside as Adam bandaged Shalimar. He came out after an hour or so.

"How is she Adam?" asked Emma who had stopped crying but her cheeks were still tear-stained.

"She has broken her rib and punctured her lung but after some time she will be fine. So I need you guys to make sure she doesn't go fighting holograms any time soon. Or running the usual. I don't want the stitches to break."

"Can we see her?" 

"She's asleep and I suggest you all do the same and you can see her in the morning." All three nodded and went to their rooms. 

Brennan walked to the lab as quietly as he could when he couldn't get any sleep. He walked into the lab and right over to where Shalimar was lying. He smiled. _"She's so beautiful, even when she's hurt" _He was pulled out of his thought. 

"Hey" 

"Hey" he said quietly "How are you feeling?"

"I'm ok…" she paused "Brennan I'm sorry for the way I reacted to you, I didn't know. I knew you wouldn't hurt me like that but I just couldn't get the images out of my head and then Gabriel he…" she was cut off.

"Its okay Shal… what ever that sick bastard told you it's not true ok? What ever you saw I would never do that to you okay?" she nodded. 

"Now why don't you get some sleep so you can recover and you and I can kick his ass." He gave her a kiss on the forehead and turned to leave but was stopped by hey hand holding on to his arm.

"Stay" He turned around 

"Are you sure?" 

"Please" she gave him a small smile that always got to him and she knew it. "I don't want to sleep I'm not tired anymore" he nodded grabbed a chair that was by the wall and sat by her. 

"So where do you want to go for dinner" He asked, getting a conversation started.

"Well it depends."

"On what?"

"Are you going to pay?" she asked innocently

He gave a little laugh. "Of course!"

"Umm… there's a new restaurant I have been wanting to try out I hear it's good, they have everything." 

"Sounds good to me" 

***

Next morning everyone was up bright and early happy to have the whole team together again. Adam walked into the lab not surprised to find Brennan already there. "Morning Adam!" 

"Morning. How did you two sleep?" 

"Great" they both answered.

Adam raised an eyebrow and shook his head "Adam can I go get some food? I'm starving." He nodded 

"Just don't do exhausting activities unless you want to be back in that bed" She nodded.

"I won't." 

"Ok go eat you are not looking to good." He teased.

"Thanks Adam" she said as she and Brennan left for the lab.

***

"Hey Emma do you want to go out some time?" 

"Like a date?" 

"Yeah if you want to that is"

"Are you sure you still want to after what I did?" she asked upset with her actions.

"I'm positive now stop blaming your self." She nodded and he smiled, happy she had accepted. Brennan and Shalimar walked into the kitchen to find Jesse and Emma already there.

"Hey guys" Shalimar greeted

"Hey Shal, how you feeling?"

"Great can't wait to eat though." she smiles at Emma knowing well what she was thinking. "Don't even think about it Emma, I know what you're thinking and I want you to stop. It wasn't your fault." She walked over to the fridge. That conversation was over and Emma knew it.

***

"I can't believe you lost her," Gabriel yelled furiously.

"Gabriel we'll get her next time. Getting Emma wasn't hard the first time we can do it again" Sharon told him calming him down a bit.

"But they will know what to do next time" he shouted at her.

"We'll find a way."

"We better" he told her warningly _"Before my time is up"_

Tell me if you think I should continue on from this point to form an on going story or should I just make each story separate. Basically I want to know if you liked my style of writing (The first 4 chapters) and if you liked that idea cause I got a truckload of ideas just waiting to be written down. So feedback please!


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